offshore drilling

Drill, Baby, Drill: Obama Administration OKs Oil Drilling in Arctic off Alaska

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:31:59 -0500

by Erika Bolstad

WASHINGTON -- The Interior Department today gave the go-ahead for Shell Oil to begin drilling three exploratory wells in the Chukchi Sea, a move that opens the door for production in a new region of the Arctic.

"This is progress," said Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, the top Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. "Today's announcement from the MMS is an encouraging sign that Alaska's oil and natural gas resources can continue to play a major role in America's energy security."

US Green Agenda Delivered Blow as Ban on Drilling off Florida Overturned

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 10:01:54 -0400

by Suzanne Goldenberg

A Senate committee delivered a rebuff to Barack Obama's clean energy agenda yesterday by voting to overturn a ban on oil and gas drilling off the Florida coast.

The 13-10 vote in the Senate's energy and natural resources committee to lift the drilling ban off Florida's coast runs counter to the push by the White House and Democrats in Congres

Weighing in on Offshore Drilling

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 09:13:40 -0400

by Kyle Hopkins

Gov. Sarah Palin told the new secretary of Interior on Tuesday that Alaska needs new offshore oil and gas development or risks an early shutdown of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline.

"Once that line shuts down, it will mean the end of oil production on the North Slope," Palin said, adding that plans for a new pipeline to carry natural gas to Lower 48 markets are at stake, too.

Activists Push for Offshore Energy Drilling Ban

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 11:15:29 -0500

by H. Josef Hebert

WASHINGTON - Environmental advocates urged Congress yesterday to reinstate the broad moratorium on offshore oil drilling, but a key congressman said on that issue, "The ship may have already sailed."

Representative Nick Rahall, Democrat of West Virginia, chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, said the political reality is that the broad moratorium across 85 percent of the country's Outer Continental Shelf lifted by Congress last fall is unlikely to be reimposed.

The Human Cost of Bush's Arctic Policy

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 10:01:19 -0500

by Riki Ott

Wainwright, Alaska - "We'll have to give you an Eskimo name if you like our food!" Kenneth "Kenny" Tagarook teased as he sliced another piece of frozen raw caribou meat for me with his ulu - a hand-sized, flat piece of metal with a small handle opposite the sharp, curved edge.

Kenny and his wife Ann are Inupiat ("In-OU-pe-at" or "Eskimo"). They are hosting me and Kenny's cousin Rosemary Ahtuangaruak during our visit in Wainwright. The village of 520 mostly Inupiat people lies along Alaska's North Slope over 200 miles above the Arctic Circle.

Salazar Announcement Shows New Approach to Offshore Energy at Department of Interior

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 16:02:46 -0500

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 10, 2009

Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)

Department of Interior Secretary Salazar announced today that he is going to take a thorough review of the five-year OCS oil and gas leasing program that was announced in the final days of the Bush administration.

Following is a statement by Wesley Warren, director of programs for the Natural Resources Defense Council:

Obama Has Opportunity to Reverse Mistake on Offshore Drilling

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 08:49:26 -0500

by Mark Weisbrot

Campaigning in Florida last June as a presidential candidate, then-Senator Barack Obama blasted the proposal of his opponent, Senator John McCain, to open coastal areas of the United States to offshore drilling. Declaring that it "makes no sense at all," Obama correctly stated that such drilling would make very little difference in the price of gasoline, and supported a reduction of fossil fuel use through a stimulus program that would create "green jobs."

Drillers Eye Oil Reserves off California Coast

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 10:22:12 -0500

by Jane Kay

SAN FRANCISCO - The federal government is taking steps that may open California's fabled coast to oil drilling in as few as three years, an action that could place dozens of platforms off the Sonoma, Mendocino and Humboldt coasts, and raises the specter of spills, air pollution and increased ship traffic into San Francisco Bay.

Drill, Virginia, Drill

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 11:19:19 -0500

by Tim Wheeler

The debate about offshore oil exploration has landed nearly in Maryland's backyard. The Department of Interior today took the first step towards allowing drilling in the Atlantic Ocean off the Virginia coast - just a little more than 50 miles from Maryland's shore.